[RT-AC68] Atium Bead for you to burn

[greggy101]

One or multiple 5 GHz devices? Tried both low-numbered and high-numbered channels?

Multiple devices, tried all channels.
Even went back to stock 800MHz... just in case
Also - I see some authentication problems on 5GHz WPA2-Personal.
Takes forever to connect - if it does - almost dead - won't transmit.
Tried different Tx settings - again, just in case
Changed/refreshed passwords.
Erased network profiles multiple times (to start fresh every time) from 4 Iphones 5 I was testing as well...
No Luck

 

[RMerlin]

Multiple devices, tried all channels.
Even went back to stock 800MHz... just in case
Also - I see some authentication problems on 5GHz WPA2-Personal.
Takes forever to connect - if it does - almost dead - won't transmit.
Tried different Tx settings - again, just in case
Changed/refreshed passwords.
Erased network profiles multiple times (to start fresh every time) from 4 Iphones 5 I was testing as well...
No Luck

No idea then, beside all the usual troubleshooting recommendations. This build uses the driver from 339, so everything should be exactly the same as with Asus's 339.

If it happens with multiple different devices it might also be a hardware issue.

 

[DaveMishSr]

Multiple devices, tried all channels.
Even went back to stock 800MHz... just in case
Also - I see some authentication problems on 5GHz WPA2-Personal.
Takes forever to connect - if it does - almost dead - won't transmit.
Tried different Tx settings - again, just in case
Changed/refreshed passwords.
Erased network profiles multiple times (to start fresh every time) from 4 Iphones 5 I was testing as well...
No Luck

I am running Atium Bead with no discernible issues. My 5GHz settings are: N & AC, channel 149 fixed, 80 MHz bandwidth fixed, WPA2 Personal AES encryption.

Roaming assistant <disable>
Enable IGMP Snooping <enable>
Multicast Rate(Mbps) <auto>
Preamble Type <short>
AMPDU RTS <enable>
RTS Threshold <2347>
DTIM Interval <3>
Beacon Interval <100>
Enable TX Bursting <enable>
Enable WMM APSD <enable>
Optimize AMPDU aggregation <enable>
Optimize ack suppression <enable>
Explicit beamforming <enable>
Implicit beamforming <enable>
Regulation mode <off (default)>
Transmit Power <100>mW

Turbo Mode is not used so the LED button setting is set to default (LED). My master bedroom media bridge (Cisco/Linksys WUMC710) is connecting at 702Mbps and receiving 46% signal strength which is very good as it is at the opposite end of my house about as far away from the router as possible.

Hope this helps.

 

[greggy101]

No idea then, beside all the usual troubleshooting recommendations. This build uses the driver from 339, so everything should be exactly the same as with Asus's 339.

If it happens with multiple different devices it might also be a hardware issue.

In the meantime I flashed original 339 (a couple of times) - router acts the same way - 5GHz is almost dead. Flashed it back to Merlin's 34_2 - the same bad results.
I am afraid it is hardware that went bad at some point...

I have a new unit coming from Newegg tomorrow - I will be able to tell if there is any difference.

 

[Maghook]

upgraded from stock .339 to Merlin alpha3, cleared nvram. Running alpha 3 into AP mode with CFE 1.0.1.6. Just quick notes:

-although enabling stealth mode, after a few seconds the USB 2.0 LED gets enabled again. (no devices attached to USB at all)
-performance on 2,4 wifi seems little bit quicker
- on some pages of the web UI the "processing" overlay gets displayed forever (using IE 11, not tried FF&Co.). This is not happening with IE 11 on stock .339.

Otherwise looking good so far.

 

[RMerlin]

upgraded from stock .339 to Merlin alpha3, cleared nvram. Running alpha 3 into AP mode with CFE 1.0.1.6. Just quick notes:

-although enabling stealth mode, after a few seconds the USB 2.0 LED gets enabled again. (no devices attached to USB at all)

I've had a few reports of oddities surrounding the USB led recently. I will have to do a test setup to see if I can reproduce it.

-performance on 2,4 wifi seems little bit quicker

Might be just the fresh smell of a recently rebooted router, because there is no change related to wifi versus stock

- on some pages of the web UI the "processing" overlay gets displayed forever (using IE 11, not tried FF&Co.). This is not happening with IE 11 on stock .339.

Which pages in particular?

 

[ronan_zj]

is 5GHz generally weaker than 2.4G? my galaxy note dropped the connection when I was using it in bathroom, but 2.4G was kind of strongl

 

[Maghook]

I've had a few reports of oddities surrounding the USB led recently. I will have to do a test setup to see if I can reproduce it.

On my setup it's reproduceable, but as I mentioned only the USB 2.0 LED suffers from this issue. Roughly about 5-6 seconds after stealth mode kicks in.

Might be just the fresh smell of a recently rebooted router, because there is no change related to wifi versus stock

Yes, might be indeed true

Which pages in particular?

I'll have to verify when I'm back home today. IIRC it was related to the wireless advanced pages for 2,4 and 5ghz as well a the page where one could enable WINS-server and force master browser. I opened another IE tab and c/p the related url into address bar. While the overlay is still showing "processing" on the first tab, I saw that the related changes already had been applied on the second tab. So, could be a small glitch with scripting on that pages?

Edit (side note): the german c't magazine noted in their review of the RT-AC68U that Asus will (finally!) integrate DFS for 5Ghz this november (in upcoming firmware), as up to now only channels 36 - 48 are available.

Edit2 @RMerlin: tried to reproduce the overlay issue, but can't right now. Had this issue during initial setup while I changed several settings at once (e.g. 5 settings on wireless advanced). Might be that I have to clear nvram and do initial setup again, don't know. As a always clear nvram after firmware upgrade I'll take a look at this issue, when you will release final .35

 

[hackintoshsr]

Not sure if my router just doesnt like your builds, but my throughput is about 40mb/s on merlin builds and 60mb/s on stock. I am sitting in the same spot with the same settings.

 

[RMerlin]

is 5GHz generally weaker than 2.4G? my galaxy note dropped the connection when I was using it in bathroom, but 2.4G was kind of strongl

5 GHz will always be weaker. High frequencies don't travel as well, so it will have a short range than 2.4 GHz.

 

[RMerlin]

Not sure if my router just doesnt like your builds, but my throughput is about 40mb/s on merlin builds and 60mb/s on stock. I am sitting in the same spot with the same settings.

No reason to, we use the exact same driver.

 

[Kris404]

Atium..

Is that what the cool kids are calling those cash dispensing machines these days?

 

[greggy101]

In the meantime I flashed original 339 (a couple of times) - router acts the same way - 5GHz is almost dead. Flashed it back to Merlin's 34_2 - the same bad results.
I am afraid it is hardware that went bad at some point...

I have a new unit coming from Newegg tomorrow - I will be able to tell if there is any difference.

Quick update - new unit arrived today - same problems on both .339 and .35alpha3. I decided to degrade the F/W (both stack and Merlin's) to the first available good one, every time resetting all the settings on the router and 4 clients. I stopped on .374-306 and IT WORKS EXCELLENT!
I have no idea what's going on here...but for some strange reason .339 driver doesn't like my environment

 

[greggy101]

After 3 days, 2 nights and 2 routers - I think I know what the problem is -
when authentication on 5Ghz is set to WPA2 Personal - the signal just goes to zero. If it is set to WPA -Auto-Personal works just fine. This applies to 5GHz only in my scenario. I have tried different combinations to see if 2.4GHz would be affected one way or the other and there are no problems there.
So, it affects 5GHz only on .339 or .35alpha5.

@RMerlin~
Is there any way to check for any possible changes (errors?) between .306 (works fine) and .339 please.

 

[canuckle]

After 3 days, 2 nights and 2 routers - I think I know what the problem is -
when authentication on 5Ghz is set to WPA2 Personal - the signal just goes to zero. If it is set to WPA -Auto-Personal works just fine. This applies to 5GHz only in my scenario. I have tried different combinations to see if 2.4GHz would be affected one way or the other and there are no problems there.
So, it affects 5GHz only on .339 or .35alpha5.

@RMerlin~
Is there any way to check for any possible changes (errors?) between .306 (works fine) and .339 please.

Would you mind saying exactly what 5Ghz devices you're using?

 

[greggy101]

Would you mind saying exactly what 5Ghz devices you're using?

The list is long...
Number of iPhones5, iPads, Netgear A6200, Samsungs SmartTVs, AC66U, WAP610N, WMP600N etc etc. But most of the testing done on OSX

 

[canuckle]

The list is long...
Number of iPhones5, iPads, Netgear A6200, Samsungs SmartTVs, AC66U, WAP610N, WMP600N etc etc. But most of the testing done on OSX

I was afraid you were going to say that, lol. 100% Apple here including 3x OSX, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, apple tv, etc. That makes it a no go for me.

Anyone else NOT having issues with apple products on this fw?

 

[greggy101]

I was afraid you were going to say that, lol. 100% Apple here including 3x OSX, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, apple tv, etc. That makes it a no go for me.

Anyone else NOT having issues with apple products on this fw?

LOL -This is a love/hate with OSX, almost the same with Asus now
What kind of problems are you having? Have you tried to play with WPA/WPA2 trick I just discovered?

 

[canuckle]

LOL -This is a love/hate with OSX, almost the same with Asus now
What kind of problems are you having? Have you tried to play with WPA/WPA2 trick I just discovered?

Actually I wasn't very clear, I haven't updated to this build, I'm on 374.34_2. It's pretty stable for me TBO, no issues with connection, throughput, or drops.

Is there anything odd about your setup? Mine is not huge, but a bit involved...NAS, Managed Switch, NAS, streaming boxes and the usual array of mobile devices and computers.

 

[greggy101]

Actually I wasn't very clear, I haven't updated to this build, I'm on 374.34_2. It's pretty stable for me TBO, no issues with connection, throughput, or drops.

Is there anything odd about your setup? Mine is not huge, but a bit involved...NAS, Managed Switch, NAS, streaming boxes and the usual array of mobile devices and computers.

Mine is a little bit more complicated...
But it only takes a few minutes to flash it, and if no luck - revert it back.
For me it has always been the best source of learning
Good Luck!

...and let me know about 5GHz WPA2 please